Segundo de Chomón

The extraordinary life of cinema pioneer Segundo de Chomón.

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius...

The legend of Aladdin and his magic lamp: Aladdin finds a magic lamp which brings him wealth, luxury, and marriage to a princess. But his rival, an...

The legend of Aladdin and his magic lamp: Aladdin finds a magic lamp which brings him wealth, luxury, and marriage to a princess. But his rival, an...

The legend of Aladdin and his magic lamp: Aladdin finds a magic lamp which brings him wealth, luxury, and marriage to a princess. But his rival, an...

Short trick film

After a witch has finished her breakfast and has flown away, two bandits break into her house. They scatter various magic canisters, and as a result,...

A man and his wife try to enjoy a picnic, but strange and surreal happenings prevent them from doing so.

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

A demonic magician attempts to perform his act in a strange grotto, but is confronted by a Good Spirit who opposes him.

A magician shows tricks with money.

A magician performs a magic show involving women turning into bouquets of roses. Later the roses are festooned together in a fancy way to decorate...

A magician is surprised when he attempts to transform a beetle.

A family troupe of acrobats, made up to appear Japanese, perform various unbelievable stunts in front of the camera, achieved through a trick of the...

“Music Forward!” is the order given by a lady in Colonial costume, and in march a group of five musicians, working industriously at their...

A group of travellers go into a house for protection. Little do they know, it is filled with ghosts who make unusual things happen to them.

"The War and the Dream of Momi" was a patriotic war film directed by Giovanni Pastrone. Segundo de Chomón was responsible for the animation...

Fascinating views of Toledo: Bridges, elaborately decorated halls and other architectural highlights that appear to date from as early as the 8th...

One of Chomón's documentary films: A short tour of the city of Girona, the "Venice of Spain". Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

This magical masterpiece was released in 1912 by Segundo de Chomón.

A woman falls asleep on a park bench. The Devil appears and summons an imp who takes the woman to his fantastic lair. After a nightmarish episode,...

This is another short, simple dance number. It’s quite stunning and unusual though with a bat turning into a woman who proceeds to give us a...

The Devil is bored. He goes back to Earth with a magic elevator. He surprises two sewer workers, disguises himself as a city man, and spreads...

A young woman passing through a cemetery at night is suddenly startled by a voice coming from one of the graves. She wishes to rush away, but the...

A man is trying to shave, but grotesque faces keep appearing in his mirror.

A short drama featuring three fictitious scenes of the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814).

Three young children set up a table, and on the table is placed a miniature stage. The stage curtain opens, a carpet appears, and then the carpet...

A sorcerer draws signs on the sand making charming young women.

A young peasant leaves his cottage after a quarrel with his wife, and meets a witch. She takes him to a cavern, where after a series of encounters...

A magical woman and her magical eggs.

In a bower of giant tulips a boy and girl practice flower magic. They cause flowers and birds to open and human forms to issue therefrom, and on the...

A top-hatted man gets dressed in the morning, and starts to yawn, causing his housekeeper to yawn as well. He sets off down the street where he...

A talented youth has compounded a wonderful fluid, a little of which he applies to the mirror in his room, and when he looks into it his image comes...

Some gnomes are searching for a wonderful spider that weaves webs of golden coins. Intent on their search, they are unaware that their movements are...

When the entire kitchen staff falls asleep from exhaustion, a dwarf appears and animates various objects via stop motion -- including their hands,...

A sculptor creates several faces in a span of four minutes.

In a living room, four contemporary couples from the time the film was shot dance a waltz under the direction of a violinist (Linder). They begin a...

At the beginning of this film two women come onstage dressed in Oriental fashion. They present a shadow play theatre.

A moon-woman shakes a Pierot costume and manifests a Pierot clown. She does this four more until there are five Pierots crowded on the ledge of the...

The first scene presents before the astonished eyes of the spectators a solid piece of marble, which the minute it is placed on a table seems to take...

This French film isn't that well known today but it will mainly appeal to those film buffs with a thing for early cinema or those wanting to see some...

In this funny picture we see the vacuum cleaner, the modern dust eradicator, performing some very droll tricks. As soon as the fellow turns on the...

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

A woman imagines the revenge of a gypsy that she sent away. This piece is told in multiple scenes, in an increasingly artificial world, as the venue...

A female magician presents several impressive metamorphoses, combining stop-motion animation and camera tricks.

A Fallen Spirit (L'Epee du spirite, 1910) by pioneer filmmaker Segundo de Chomón is a fantasy swashbuckler that opens with the arrival at an...

Experimental color film that shows a magician and his assistant making objects and people appear and disappear. Then they stack up some blocks and a...

Many of the scenes of this split-reel short about a bizarre group of tramp musicians who disappear into and out of drums, beach umbrellas and...

The King and his official astronomer are alone in the study viewing the heavenly bodies through the monstrous telescope. They go out on the balcony...

This adaptation of Charles Perrault's classic novel briefly presents the story of a poor family who doesn't find means to sustain their home and end...

A Segundo de Chomón film filled with stop-motion animation and ghosts.

Pickpock is behind bars. But more elusive than Arsène Lupin, no chain resists him and he plays with policemen like a cat with mice. After...

A man in a suit and cap stops in front of the display of a bookseller, finds and flips… "Invisible Man" by H. G. Wells! Fascinated by the...

This early silent era film was released in France circa 1908 by Segundo de Chomón. It is partially hand coloured and shows several Japanese...

People magically appear and disappear from an oversized musical cigar dispenser.

A short film featuring several dancers from different countries: first an Arabian dancer, then an Algerian belly dancer, and finally Scottish...

A couple steals food from a grocery store. To stop them from repeating their crime, the cunning salesman electrifies his shop.

A beautiful seductive fairy makes gentle winged creatures appear.

An artist is painting the portrait of a young woman dressed in a country costume in his attic studio. The landlord demands the rent, but the artist...

An old woman begs a young men to carry her heavy bundle of firewood. The man refuses: he rather goes to sleep. The woman, who turns out to be a...

In an outdoor setting, a magician makes pond nymphs and frog people appear out of water and thin air.

A magician charms a caterpillar and turns it into a butterfly woman.

A frog hops around a magic fountain.

A rehearsal of dancing heads?

The devil takes Maciste down to hell in an attempt to corrupt and ruin his morality.

The heir of a rich family puts up a notice, where he says he is looking for a wife. As a result, he will soon find himself fleeing from a dozen women.

This is a beautifully colored picture, opening with a scene in the laboratory of an old wizard, who is bending over a vessel compounding some sort of...

This is a beautifully colored picture, opening with a scene in the laboratory of an old wizard, who is bending over a vessel compounding some sort of...

A trick film using the reverse effect.

A trick film using the reverse effect.

The documentary was entirely filmed in the province of Burgos, containing monuments and architecture considered emblematic of Spanish heritage. Color...

A collection of eight films with magical elements born out of the eternal duality of good and evil. They were shot between 1902 and 1908, when the...

In an uninhabited house, a burglar has to deal with objects that are set against him.

A doctor finds himself infected by a deadly disease.

Devilish looking man dances with a dress in his arms. The dress stands up by itself and a woman magician appears in it. She conjures six women and...

A family tries to eat dinner, but the table vanishes and reappears, changes shape and location, all in the usual manner laid down by Melies, but here...

In this weird picture we take a pleasure trip into the infernal regions and are entertained by his Satanic Majesty and all the spooks that are...

A bourgeois gentleman gets excited reading about cops and robbers on the newspaper. His wife, bored by his comments, falls asleep and right after,...

A bourgeois gentleman gets excited reading about cops and robbers on the newspaper. His wife, bored by his comments, falls asleep and right after,...

A magical woman and her magical eggs.

A bourgeois gentleman gets excited reading about cops and robbers on the newspaper. His wife, bored by his comments, falls asleep and right after,...

A magical woman and her magical eggs.

"Le Pied de Mouton" is an adaptation of an old French stage play titled "The Talisman" written by Alphonse Martainville and César...

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

Early short showing the titular park in around 2 minutes.

A chef comes into the kitchen and throws a lot of rags on the floor: he then casts a spell over them, and immediately they take the form of human...

A man hides his valuables under his mattress before going to sleep, blissfully unaware of the two burglars on his roof.

This is not only a colored film of great beauty, but one showing a series of clever trick pictures in which great ingenuity on the part of the...

On an elaborately decorated stage, the titular troubadour of the title bows. He then proceeds to pull several cards out of mid air and arrange them...

A man trapped in purgatory must come face to face with his own demons.

Views of the waterfalls at Monasterio de Piedra, in Spain.

1904 journalistic actuality.

De Chomon short from 1912

A short film documenting the wedding ceremony of Princess Ena to King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Showing the royal carriage, the royal procession through...

De Chomon film from 1908. Existing film is incomplete in length.

This adaptation of Charles Perrault's classic novel briefly presents the story of a poor family who doesn't find means to sustain their home and end...

A woman metamorphs into a butterfly.

Female magicians turn people into origami roosters and vice versa.

Directed by Febo Mari.

A man in a suit and cap stops in front of the display of a bookseller, finds and flips… "Invisible Man" by H. G. Wells! Fascinated by the...

An evil magician visits the rajah's palace to perform his magic tricks, but he also steals a valuable casket making his getaway aboard a dragon. The...

A Segundo de Chomón trick film.

A trip to Kabilye.

A monkey comes home and uses a magic wand to make himself dinner. No sooner as he falls asleep, a hungry burglar enters his house. This short film...

A house filled with spirits.

A portrait of the cities of Lisbon and Oporto.

A trip to Mallorca.

A Spanish wedding scene.

Escamillo has a tapeworm.

A remarkable early short silent movie that shows what may be achieved with the technology of the day. A woman sits in front of her dressing table...

Steampunk fantasia of interplanetary travel and submarine life.

The heir of a rich family puts up a notice, where he says he is looking for a wife. As a result, he will soon find himself fleeing from a dozen women.

The heir of a rich family puts up a notice, where he says he is looking for a wife. As a result, he will soon find himself fleeing from a dozen women.

"Le Pied de Mouton" is an adaptation of an old French stage play titled "The Talisman" written by Alphonse Martainville and César...

Cretinetti is about to get married and he could not be any happier and more in love with his Junoesque consort. But just on the day of his wedding,...

A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his...

The town-crier summons the inhabitants of the town and they read a manifesto which is posted on a wall announcing the fact that at 4 o'clock on that...

Based on the story of "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault. Titles read: The Christening of the Princess; The Good Fairies Fatal Prediction; The...

In a bower of giant tulips a boy and girl practice flower magic. They cause flowers and birds to open and human forms to issue therefrom, and on the...

In a bower of giant tulips a boy and girl practice flower magic. They cause flowers and birds to open and human forms to issue therefrom, and on the...

In a bower of giant tulips a boy and girl practice flower magic. They cause flowers and birds to open and human forms to issue therefrom, and on the...

A woman enters a room with a man. She creates a duplicate of him and changes his personality by throwing his clothes from one man to the next.

In a chase which literally encompasses the entire globe, a detective follows the path of an apparent embezzler through various foreign nations,...

Captivated by a vision of beckoning women, a man dives into the ocean, and soon finds himself walking on the ocean floor. After encountering numerous...

"Tigre Reale" (1916) was the film that consolidated Frau Menichelli's stardom, a film more than suitable for her performing skills and silent...

Gaston Velle's 'Les Fleurs Animées' was screened by the Australian-based Corrick Family Entertainers as part of their variety act. In their...

An evil magician visits the rajah's palace to perform his magic tricks, but he also steals a valuable casket making his getaway aboard a dragon. The...

A little flower film by Gaston Velle.

A beautiful seductive fairy makes gentle winged creatures appear.

People magically appear and disappear from an oversized musical cigar dispenser.

Devilish looking man dances with a dress in his arms. The dress stands up by itself and a woman magician appears in it. She conjures six women and...

A film based on Gabriele D'Annunzio's novel The Flame. Pina Menichelli plays a vamp who ruins a painter's life just for the fun of it.

Early short showing the titular park in around 2 minutes.

French horror short from 1908.

French horror short from 1908.

It is winter and a couple invites an old woman to eat. The old woman then becomes a fairy and makes the spring appears.

A soldier of near-superhuman strength fights battles in the First World War and wages a private war to rescue a young woman from the castle where she...

A man and his wife try to enjoy a picnic, but strange and surreal happenings prevent them from doing so.

A woman imagines the revenge of a gypsy that she sent away. This piece is told in multiple scenes, in an increasingly artificial world, as the venue...

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius...

The devil performs his magical powers.

In this remake of Ferdinand Zecca's "Plongeur fantastique" (The Fantastic Plunger, 1901), Segundo de Chomón shows a diver with reverse motion...

In this remake of Ferdinand Zecca's "Plongeur fantastique" (The Fantastic Plunger, 1901), Segundo de Chomón shows a diver with reverse motion...

Film about an inventor going wild

Short film about a dreaming musician

Short film about a magic ride

A devil puts a woman into a boiling cauldron in a fiery cave.

Short movie on Barcelona's "Citadel Park" produced by Segundo de Chomón for Pathé Frères. Directed and filmed by Segundo de...

Short movie on Barcelona's "Citadel Park" produced by Segundo de Chomón for Pathé Frères. Directed and filmed by Segundo de...

A demonic magician attempts to perform his act in a strange grotto, but is confronted by a Good Spirit who opposes him.

A group of travellers go into a house for protection. Little do they know, it is filled with ghosts who make unusual things happen to them.

Rising from a stage are two vases which separate to reveal a female dancer behind each of the vases. They create magical circles of flowers from...

Stencil-coloured version of Segundo de Chomón's Les roses magiques (1906).

Rising from a stage are two vases which separate to reveal a female dancer behind each of the vases. They create magical circles of flowers from...

A clown creates a giant version of his face, and then retrieves two miniature versions of himself from his luggage.

A short drama featuring three fictitious scenes of the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814).

A short drama featuring three fictitious scenes of the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814).

"The War and the Dream of Momi" was a patriotic war film directed by Giovanni Pastrone. Segundo de Chomón was responsible for the animation...

In an empty mansion's corridor, flames appear and form into a Mephistophelean magician who conjures a couple of women and then a fireworks display.

A family living in poverty, in a tiny house with no furniture. When mama goes to sleep, the youngsters head out to rustle up some firewood....

A young woman passing through a cemetery at night is suddenly startled by a voice coming from one of the graves. She wishes to rush away, but the...

Two contortionists, dressed as devils, invade a kitchen.

Claudio is married to Cesarina, a frivolous and unfaithful woman. After the death of their only son their marriage is cold. While his wife lives her...

"The War and the Dream of Momi" was a patriotic war film directed by Giovanni Pastrone. Segundo de Chomón was responsible for the animation...

Italian silent film Victory or Death, directed by Caserini. An early crime thriller, the plot revolves around the Countess Alberti -- played by Berta...

A woman imagines the revenge of a gypsy that she sent away. This piece is told in multiple scenes, in an increasingly artificial world, as the venue...

Two contortionists, dressed as devils, invade a kitchen.

Two rag-pickers enter their hovel with their bags of scraps. After a little preliminary comedy they set up a white sheet. One of the rag-pickers now...

A short dance film in Pathécolor, also know as stencil colouring. The editing cuts correspond with the dancers' costume changes. More about...